In the aircraft industry, turbine engine manufacturers have been moving toward composite airfoils (e.g., fan blades) that utilize light-weight, low-cost composite materials. As a result, newly designed engines are becoming more cost-efficient and energy efficient. However, these light-weight composite materials can possess reduced strength as compared to their heavier, more costly metal counterparts, and thus are more vulnerable to impact from bird strikes and other typical hazards encountered during flight and other operation. Furthermore, aircraft engine airfoils (e.g., fan blades) typically involve highly complex, three-dimensional contoured shapes and surfaces, the forms of which must be precisely maintained in order to function properly and most efficiently. Such shapes and surfaces can include intricate twists, cambers, and other curvatures across the various dimensions of the leading edge of the airfoil (e.g., fan blade). These complex shapes make it difficult, time consuming, and costly to produce metal leading edges with conventional manufacturing processes or techniques. Non-metal leading edges, on the other hand, tend to lack adequate strength or durability, and result in undesirable wear, which reduces the performance of the airfoil. For instance, composite fan blades similar to carbon fibers do not perform well under impact conditions, and can suffer great damage as a result of strikes along the leading edge of the blade, e.g., from foreign objects like bird strikes.